46 documented mentions across 25 meetings (27 Go Forward, 15 Simmons, plus combined items). Timeline:
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Feb 21, 2023 | Go Forward town hall announced; Jack Foster and John Feeney attack a "Go Forward tax" as a "cash grab," no public hearing, citing the Arkansas Municipal League on city donations to private nonprofits; Foster says he'll take it to the state AG (alleged conspiracy). |
| Aug 2023 | The Go Forward Alliance claims its $100,000 land investment took the Chick-fil-A site out of the flood plain for a $4.5M investment. Loretta Scott's dual GFPB-board/Planning-Commission role (tied to a go-kart application) triggers a conflict-of-interest fight over her appointment (Lisa speaks against it). Foster alleges a city–GFPB conspiracy and a "$250,000 per-renewal" payment; Johnny Alexander Robinson alleges the private group moved city funds without council approval. The 5/8-cent tax ordinance fails first reading in a heated session. |
| May–Jun 2024 | A Libertarian mayoral candidate attacks "Simmons Bank/Go Forward backdoor deals"; the NAACP presents demands from four Go Forward town halls; Jihad Muhammad challenges a Pine Bluff Commercial claim that Go Forward projects (go-kart, Six & Main, hotel with a $1.4M funding gap) are off track; Julius Lever says Simmons Bank refused to meet him and attacks the city's prior 5-3 vote on the Six & Main/urban-renewal property citing $4M of taxpayer funds. |
| Jul 1, 2024 | Council ratifies Simmons Bank's Oct 31, 2022 conveyance (community center/food hall; exclusive ATM easement; permanent naming rights) and extends exclusive naming rights — 5-3 (Mays, Lockett, Brown Sr. opposed; Lockett had pulled it three times; a fourth member was absent). Ryan Watley presents ~$18M USDA-guaranteed hotel financing + ~$2M Simmons naming rights as "$20 million on the table." |
| Sep 16, 2024 | Go Forward update: 6th & Main construction on track for November 2024 completion with five small businesses; Simmons Bank completed its $2 million payment obligation (~$1.9M invoiced). |
| Oct–Dec 2024 | Resolutions continue: go-kart track funding via 58-cent tax reallocations; the 5/8-cent extension fight. |
| Jan 5, 2026 | The "bought council members" allegation surfaces in public comment, tied to the Simmons/GFPB relationship. |
| Feb 2026 | Mayor vetoes Resolution 4993 (URA/go-kart funding); URA director Griffin reports the city carryover ($860K) plus $60,000 transfer intended to trigger Go Forward's matching funds; cost overrun reported at $375K; the veto memo puts the project $1.7M over budget. |
| Apr 3, 2026 | Mayor Flowers cites Sixth & Main (Simmons Bank Park) opening as a 2025 progress story. |
| Jun 2026 | Council approves go-kart construction contracts (six contracts, four companies, $3,051,756) and a total project cost of $3,880,301 — contingent on Go Forward's written $1.2M private pledge (construction, FF&E, maintenance, operation) under Resolution 4872 amendment; $161,000.78 already spent on URA/Simmons Bank Park operations. Simmons Bank appears on the sponsor list for a city event (neutral). |
Influence assessment. Go Forward Pine Bluff is the city's de facto economic-development engine: its projects (go-kart/family-fun park at the former Admiral Benbow hotel site, Six & Main, the former-Plaza hotel) account for the largest cluster of split votes in the archive, and the URA exists substantially to deliver them. Its influence runs through three channels — (a) grant collection (it presented the city's collected grants, $4.54M, in the URA reporting), (b) political support (organized town halls, MOSER-type pro-speakers, the NAACP channel), and (c) financial entanglement (the $860K city carryover structured to trigger its private match; the city attorney sitting on its board; the $2M Simmons obligation). The persistent counter-narrative — Lever's "$4M taxpayer funds," Foster's "$250,000 per renewal," Robinson's "moved funds without council approval," and the 2026 "bought council members" charge — has never been formally rebutted on the record in these meetings, which is itself why the topic keeps reopening.
Simmons Bank specifically is the other axis: the bank's $2M "contribution in consideration of extended exclusive naming rights" (July 2024), the ratified 2022 conveyance, the park naming (Six & Main = Simmons Bank Park), and its presence at city events make it the most prominent private funder in the record. Web cross-reference: Simmons Bank's own investor-relations page documents the Jan 2022 $2M Go Forward ALICE-families initiative (committed to Affordable Advantage Mortgage loans through GFPB), and the Pine Bluff Commercial reported the council "tables terms of plaza" with Watley confirming the $2M Simmons donation was long in the conversation; the $8.5M Six & Main development features the Magnolia Food Market & Bar and "The Bank: Pine Bluff Mercantile."
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